Now Senate President José Luis Dalmau has made it public that he has held talks with members of the Citizens Victory Movement (MVC) to discuss their positions for the new four-year period before the vote, where he was ratified as chairman of the legislature and indicated Manuel Natal met with him to negotiate votes for his presidency.
“I met Ana Rima Rivera Lassen and Rafael Bernabe a few weeks ago. I talked to them about promoting the participation of all parties, recognizing the spokespersons, I put everyone in front first, as it deserves to be, I will promote the process of measures, participation in committees and after telling everyone that they said they would not participate. That they will not vote for anything, “Dalmau said on Aníbal Acevedo Vilá’s podcast.
In the interview, the senator of the Democratic People’s Party (PPD) and now president of the Senate, indicated that the former representative and one of the MVC leaders requested a meeting, which they had together with Senator Ana Irma Rivera Lassen and Senator Rafael Bernabe who discussed various issues to find out Dalmau’s positions.
“Later, Manuel Natal asked me for an appointment, and as a representative, which was in December, which was in December, I accepted the invitation to my office, I met with him, I explained the same thing I just said, that I told all parties, I did not ask anyone to vote. I did not compromise the vote in exchange for anything I just offered them the opening and they said publicly that they are not available for anything. However, last Saturday, Manuel Natal called me and told me that they want to know what my positions are on some issues and I told him the same thing I tell you and I told the people of Puerto Rico , open for examination of their measures and that I guarantee the process. On Sunday I had a meeting with both Ana Irma Rivera Lassen and Rafael Bernabe and they brought me their proposals, I did not call them to negotiate anything, they called me to see how I think about their proposals and I said the same, I am a Hannibal vote, although I lead the Senate, I am a single vote, we must convince others to get 14, which is the absolute majority required by the constitution to approve a measure, “Dalmau explained.
Dalmau’s expressions appear after Manuel Natal’s comments on social networks, where he criticized the alliance between the Dignity Project and PPD. Senator Joanne Rodríguez Veve voted in favor of José Luis Dalmau.
Related note:
However, the Senate President stressed several times in the interview that he did not negotiate votes with any of the members of the legislature.
When he (Manuel Natal) said publicly that I did not want to negotiate, I did not offer business to anyone. I let people vote the way they wanted and respect if they didn’t want to vote, if you didn’t want to participate, respect if they voted against me, this is a democracy.
On the other hand, Dalmau said he offered to chair the commissions of Puerto Rico’s Independence Party senator María de Lourdes Santiago and MVC senators, but those proposals were rejected.